Ukrainian soldiers wreaked havoc as they meandered into the
town of Artemivsk in eastern Ukraine, griping about incompetent leadership and
recounting desperate conditions and gruesome killing as they beat a chaotic
retreat from the strategic town of Debaltseve. As the soldiers started to
heavily drink, gunshots rang out while others were seizing taxicabs without
payment. It wasn’t clear that all the soldiers had been given places to rest
their heads and one group stood silently, trembling on a street outside the
Hotel Ukraine. Meanwhile at an upscale restaurant, Biblios, others were
stomping through the dining room firing shots into the ceiling and ordering
brandy that they couldn’t afford. One visibly drunk soldier, who was still in
his muddy uniform that he wore escaping from Debaltseve, stated “The guys are
unwinding. What do you expect after a battle?” More than 5,000 people have lost
their lives due to conflict within the Ukraine however the leaders of Russia,
Ukraine, Germany and France negotiated to cease-fire last week. None of the
provisions of the peace treaty have been accomplished according to the
agreement’s terms and timeline. There has been no termination in fighting, a
deadline for the extraction of heavy weaponry came and went and there has been
no evident movement toward a release of prisoners.
Although Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France have made a
commitment to cease-fire, this doesn’t seem to bring any peace of mind to these
soldiers who just spent who knows how long in Debaltseve. Honestly – how could
it? Though I don’t think that their behavior is necessarily level headed, I do
think that we see the mistreatment of soldiers far too often. Why is it that
those who risk their lives at war can’t come home to a place to rest? Even in
the United States, we see our soldiers being taken advantage of where it should
be our duty to take care of them since they were taking care of us.
Brittany Schrum
02/20/15
12:07
No comments:
Post a Comment